Updating rather than replacing ECS Task Definition with CloudFormation

Question:

When updating a TaskDefinition in CloudFormation the docs say that a replacement action occurs –
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/aws-resource-ecs-taskdefinition.html

Is there a way to get that to be a new revision? Should I be using the family parameter? Is there a TaskDefinition limit? Otherwise I end up with a large number of inactive definitions.

Answer:

Yes, in order to put your changes in a new revision of the same Task Definition you should use the Family parameter. Quoting from the official documentation:

Family

The name of a family that this task definition is registered to. A
family groups multiple versions of a task definition.

CloudFormation will still consider this a “replacement” and will delete the old revision, however it will not create a new Task Definition if you use the Family parameter.

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